[ravstrike]

Originally Posted by Flash Master

P.S, Not to hog screen time but in reference to Reaper' s statement on Lind L. Taylors's name, don't you think that Shinigami kill only by using Birth names. To say that one could go to the courthouse and change their name would imply that Shinigami were limited to the legalities of this world. A name once given at birth, in my mind has larger meaning to it, even for those who do not like their given names.A Rose by any other name is still a Rose.

What is a name? What about a name that you never knew? (adopted or a secret name that your mother gave you but failed to pass on)
Isn't your name what you choose to be called? (even a false identity could become real if you aren't careful)
Couldn't Kira have simply written "L" once he knew his face?

[greenday313]

Originally Posted by ravstrike

What is a name? What about a name that you never knew? (adopted or a secret name that your mother gave you but failed to pass on)
Isn't your name what you choose to be called? (even a false identity could become real if you aren't careful)
Couldn't Kira have simply written "L" once he knew his face?

Yeah. But like L said, everyone would suspect Light if that happened.

[dragoonv76]

no....cause wouldnt everyone working with L be able to do the same if they were kira? also even if they suspect Light..they cant legally touch him anyways.

[Flash Master]

Perhaps you are correct that you truly can become that which you chose to be called, however, that being said, if I were to give you a rose and told you it were a petunia, would it still be a rose? But then again, who originally named the rose and in what language would you call it a rose? If in japanese the name of the rose meant Rooku, what then would you call it? For this particular discussion however, I believe the Death Note simply must relate to a given name. If say a person were adopted, or the like, then I believe the higher or rather more so vindictive powers in this case, would refer to the name which came into existence with that life or was given shortly thereafter. Otherwise, Light would not have needed Naomi's real name and Shinigami eyes would be rather pointless. Other than logical regards to the Death Note however, I fully agree with you.

[ravstrike]

What would you do if you got the death note but the names must be written in a different language and had to be in perfect form? That would be a pain to test and you almost definately need artistic skill and the shinigami eyes.

[Flash Master]

Let's say the powers that be obviously know the name of the intended victim. What if the human or shinigami acts as a filter if you will. The shinigami world will only recognize the true name of the person to be killed to be sure so the recipient of the Death Note must write that recognized name in order for it to be effective. What if the person using the death note can write the correct name in the note in their respective language and it would essentially be translated once in the notebook into Shinigami language if you will. Then, it wouldn't really matter which language you spelled it in. Just a thought.

[TrisakAminawn]

But you still have to spell it right.

Technicalities of naming...kind of thing they never will tell you. Like how FMA alchemy actually works, right, Wolven? As far as L with the Note...he was a brat, like Light, and he was selfish and thought highly of himself and little of other people, like Light, and considered himself righteous, like Light, and of course despite all his faults was absolutely brilliant, slightly more than Light, but his processing of information was different. If nothing else, L was willing to second-guess himself. No one could get where Light did without Light's lunatic self-assurance.

All such considerations aside...Light began what he did because he was 'bored.' He was perfect and living utterly without significant challenge or purpose. L has a life full of challenge and righteous-enough causes. He didn't need to be Kira, wouldn't internally benefit from becoming Kira. He might have employed the Note judiciously for the rest of his life as a weapon in particularly tight case situations, but he wouldn't mount an extermination campaign. Such a thing wouldn't satisfy his aesthetics, nor is he unsatisfied enough to need to do such a thing to prove his own importance to himself. Light wouldn't have, either, had he not combined the feeling of oneself as a superlative existence with the sense of an empty life. Until he started dueling L, remember, for Light, everything was easy. There's nothing except perpetual failure more bleak than perpetual success, and those doomed to succeed are a lot scarier because they have so many more resources when they turn upon the world...

Note to education authorities: accelerated learning programs for young geniuses are a must. Soichiro, if you had had him on the force from the age of fifteen, he would probably have never sent you to your death.

[halfdemonL]

Well, think if it this way: if you had the Death Note, what would YOU do? The most obvious options would be 1) be Kira 2) use the Note for personal gain or 3) do nothing with it. Light doesn't seem the kind of person to use it for personal gain, and doing nothing with it would just be a waste, right? So that leaves you with option 1: be Kira. Once he made this life-altering decision, he became so consumed with power and was unable to focus on anything but his one goal, which I'm sure we all know quite well: to be the god of the new world!!! (insert evil laugh here)

Now, if L had found the Death Note, I think he would have thought it out more carefully instead of instantly jumping to this decision. He would have seen every way that his actions would affect the world; he was good at that, maybe even better than Light was. L is a very odd person, as I'm sure we're all aware, so I think it would be easier for him to resist the temptation of using the Note. Also, his sense of justice is different from Light's, so even if he did become Kira, I doubt he would have gone insane at the end, and I don't think he would have killed nearly as many people.

[TrisakAminawn]

There's another option. 'Becoming Kira' and 'profiteer' does not cover the usage options, because in becoming Kira Light made the Death Note the cornerstone of his identity and threw himself into the role of murderer without admitting that he was doing anything wrong. There also exists, always existed, the possibility of using the Note as a weapon at crucial moments when, for example, the plan had gone slightly awry and the hostages were about to be shot, and L is in a uniquely perfect place to use it in this way. I'm not sure I would entirely approve, but in that case it would become something like the gun Soichiro Yagami carries, and as long as the user retained his good judgement only as evil as any killing tool. L, I think, knows what it means to kill someone. He would not do it unless he had to. I would certainly rather trust him with it than any government.

Has everyone here read the Death Note pilot? If not, do not read stuff in brackets, spoiler; come back when you've read it. I'm pretty sure it's on this site, as 'chapter zero' or something. [[[[You know, it's got a death eraser? And Ryuk actually gives said eraser to the kid? And the ending is then extremely ambiguous as to what he's been using it for all these years, but we know he still has it, because Ryuk's there. (And I think Ryuk affected his fashion sense. Snicker. I mean, I guess he really is 'cool,' but...O.o XD) From his smug expression, whatever decision he made he feels completely secure about. Here's 'nice kid, non-genius, gets Death Note without posted rules, makes choices as discovers function.' Interesting, huh?]]]]

[ZERO PHOENIX]

Sorry for being brief but L would walk the exact same path Light did. L is not as righteous as he is made out to be and if he did get his hands on the DEATH NOTE, proof of that would be on display for all to see.